Cash rich Wenger bemoans lack of choice

Arsene Wenger claims that despite there being plenty of money in the market this summer, there’s not much in the way of choice when it comes to buying players.

The Arsenal manager has yet to spend any cash at all this summer, with the Gunners sole arrival the free transfer of Yaya Sanogo from Auxerre. As well as that, Wenger has dispensed with Francis Coquelin, Johan Djourou and Vito Mannone, as well as seeing Arshavin and Squillaci leave due to contract expiry.

But it seems he’s no closer to opening his wallet despite declaring an interest in Wayne Rooney. Speaking about the “angry and confused” United striker and the possibility of him leaving Old Trafford, Wenger said, “It happened to us [Dutch Skunk], it can happen to them.

“We have not the problem of the wages of Wayne Rooney, but it’s very difficult for us to talk about a specific case. We work hard but we are not close to signing anybody.

“The competition in Europe is very hard at the moment. There’s a lot of money and not many players.”

While it’s true that there are a limited number of top quality purchases out there, it’s hard to reconcile Wenger’s words with the fact that Gonzalo Higuain wants out of Real Madrid and according to all available info, would be keen on a move to North London.

With Rooney’s most likely destination the bus stop in Fulham, it’s hard to understand why we don’t let the others fight over the fat boy and bring in the rather good Argentinian.

The new season starts in exactly one month, and in June Ivan Gazidis spoke about doing the transfer business as efficiently as possible.

“We will strive to get our business done early,” he said. “Last year we looked at what was done two seasons ago, which is certainly not something we would ever choose to go through again.”

One month to go.

One month. Still plenty of time, but the worrying line about not being close to signing anyone is an unwelcome blast from transfer windows past.

Wenger also revealed that there is a clause allowing Arsenal first refusal on former skipper, Cesc Fabregas, but that the midfielder is likely to stay in Spain for another season.

“Fabregas has decided to stay 1 more year at Barcelona. Unless he has changed his mind. I don’t know. But that’s what I have been told. We have the clause in his contract so we would be on alert but at the moment that’s not something we are after.

349 COMMENTS

Wow; that’s a strange thing to say. Not very poetic, not very true (I hope), not very helpful. I can understand the dislike, but if he signs then you have to cheer him on for the sake of the club. Arsenal’s bigger than Suarez and has had its problem-children before. Get over it.

I’d never boo or act out against a player wearing our shirt, and I don’t understand those who do, but I don’t have to actually cheer on that bitey racist cunt in the slightest little bit if I don’t want to.

And I’d also be extremely disappointed in the club and Wenger were we to sign him.

Amazing how many agree and disagree with my point. Looks like a few more fans would rather not have him. That’s because he’s a cheat, a racist and a cannibal, as well as a waste of money. Have you ever heard the phrase ‘more trouble than he’s worth’? Look it up in a dictionary of phrases and see this cuntbrained Freddie Mercury beaming out at you. This club is better than that, or it bloody well should be.

And if I’m paying for my season ticket I’ll cheer who I choose to cheer (not him).

Telling someone to “get over it” isn’t very “Humble”. Personally I’m not humble so I’ll you to get over the fact that some of us care enough about the quality of our club and our reputation to be sicked by the thought of Suarez at our club. I’d rather we signed no one.

Best comparison I can make is Michael Vick in American Football. Superstar Quarter-Back found guilty and imprisoned for Dog Fighting. Himself and his buddies decided to spend his millions breeding dogs and betting on which one would have terminally injuries at the end. He came out of jail and signed for the Philadelphia Eagles. Could you honestly cheer a man like that if he played on your team? I certainly couldn’t.

Depending on how you regard dogs, humans etc…you may or may not believe Suarez’s behaviour is much better, worse, that’s up to you. I’d rather support people I didn’t think were detestable. Sometimes you sign a guy and he does something stupid (David Hillier), that can happen, but don’t sign a guy when you know he is a shit. Don’t break the club transfer record on a guy like that.

Michael Vick spent time in jail. Suarez may be an ass, but he’s not a felon. Everything “wrong” with him, has been in the context of the game. Yes, he’s played dirty and I am not going to defend the particular actions, but he was punished for those actions in the context of the game.

Plus, he was most dominate striker in the PL last season (and perhaps the lone spark on an otherwise unremarkable/old squad), while Michael Vick was never better than a top 10 QB in the NFL.

Being fickle implies I gave a toss about his antics. I don’t, and never have. However, plenty of small-minded keyboard warriors, like yourself, are quick to rush to judgement and just as quick to change their views when it suits them.

No. Suarez is a top quality player, obviously, and would add a lot to the squad. But he has issues:
1) He’s a bitey racist
2) He’s a racist biter.
3) 1 and 2 mean I wouldn’t respect him as an Arsenal player
4) Practically speaking, he’s out for the first 6 games of next season because of reasons 1 and 2. If he does something stupid AGAIN, he’d be out for almost half a season (15 games I reckon) at best.
5) He costs 40 million pounds. At least
6) Those 40 million pounds could be spent much wiser.

And it’s point 6 that is the real ringer. How many Arsenal fans, really, would prefer to see Suarez and only Suarez as a red-and-white than see Higuain AND Fellaini or Higuain and Capoue and Grenier or [pick 3 players who would cost roughly 40 mil and insert them here] in the squad. I know I wouldn’t. Mostly for reasons 1 and 2. But if he did join, of course I’d want him to do well for the team…but…I’d hate him as an individual…

Whilst Suarez only has himself to blame, let’s not get carried away with turning him into a monster. When you look at his crimes, he’s clearly a twat, but that’s all. He said a word he shouldn’t have said. That is all we know about that incident. He’s painted as a racist monster for saying that word, but we don’t know anything about him. I’m not saying he isn’t racist, he might be, I’m just saying that taking one incident and painting someone’s entire character using it isn’t reasonable.

And as for the biting, that has been blown all out of proportion. It was petty and stupid, but is being petty and stupid really such a crime? I’ve never bit anyone, but I have done a few petty and stupid things in my time, I think we all have. Is a human not allowed to make mistakes without having their entire character condemned? What he did really wasn’t that big a deal. Nobody had their leg snapped in two, or their jaw broken, or their skull fractured. The reason everyone has reacted this badly to is because they think it’s not manly, that’s the only reason. Again, not much of crime.

All of that said, I don’t want to sign him, simply because I don’t see how it ends well. He either does well – in which case in the summer he’ll want to go to Madrid because he clearly has no loyalty, or he does badly – in which case we wasted a lot of money.

Just curious to know if people against the Suarez transfer would actually cheer him on if his goals ended up winning us the PL? He obviously has a few issues but that said you cannot argue with the fact that he is an outstanding forward, one that could possibly become even better in a team like ours. I really hope he signs for us, like him or not he will be the difference next season and might actually strike a little fear in the likes of Chelsea and Man utd when we play them – that’s if we sign him of course??

WHAT is going on? Reports say Higuain to Napoli? Ok someone please justify this season how a team that barely made 4th place, is being so stingy to just pay up and buy a star striker someone that sells jerseys and will excite the fans some more? This is soo frustrating!!

Maybe Madrid dont want to sell Higuain or he wants to stay? Only explanation to why we have dropped out and how there doesn’t seem to be much interest in him from any other top clubs.
.
strange transfer window….

Stepping into shoes I don’t care to step into, but it’s not just money… if RM are afraid they’ll miss out on other strikers they might be targeting (which they have so far… Falcao–gone, Cavani-gone), they probably won’t let Higuain go first. That’s apart from being bastards and wanting to milk us for as much money as possible. So I think they’d be happy to let all this shit run until the end of August, which is neither in our nor Liverpool’s favor. Which makes me think that Liverpool and Arsenal will actually make a deal…. [holds head in hands].

This is the craziest transfer window I can remember. I’m half-expecting the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man to destroy New York by the end of it. Fuck.

I think it’s fairly public knowledge now that Real let us speak to Higuain after having an unofficial bid accepted. We then agreed personal terms with his representatives but on returning to Real to finalise the deal they realised they needed a shit load more cash to sign their targets and so upped the asking price by another £10m. The wankbags.

On one hand I love that we won’t take that sort of treatment from that utter douche Perez but on the other I really want higs and would much rather we gave in and offered a decent amount to get him over Suarez.

@Highbury shuffle, the problem is it is not common knowledge, its common rumor, untill either or both of the clubs involved state themselves an unofficial or otherise bid ha been accepted its all agent talk brinksmanship rumor and smoke in the air sadly as Higuain and almost any1 else in the 10m range for me beats taking the biting racist cuntmuffin

My best mate is a Spurs fan, and I find the effect to be the footballing equivalent of someone who hangs around with shorter people in order to make themselves look and feel taller. No matter how bad things get at the Arsenal, we have nothing compared to the comedic shitstorm that is Shite Hart Lane.

“We work hard but we are not close to signing anybody.”
WHAT… THE… FUCK… WENGER?
The clock is ticking on your Arsenal career Wenger. Please don’t tarnish everything you have done for the club by being…. “you”. SIGN SOMEONE!!!!!!!!

The clock is ticking on his arsenal career? are you high? he is our most successful manager, longest serving and not to mention probably the only manager who could have steered arsenal through the stadium change through an ecconnimic recession and still made top 4 every year without taking on debt! The man deserves some loyalty.

Yeah ok mate, you tell yourself that whilst you pay for the most expensive season ticket in the world, whilst lapping up that exciting chase for champions league bollocks. Simple fact is, Wenger doesn’t sign some seriously needed players, he will be under some serious pressure to leave.
No one is bigger than the club, ever.

I hate to be cynical, and I do give Wenger the benefit of the doubt more times than not, but I really don’t understand the strategic point of coming out and saying “Oh we’ve got lots of money, don’t worry”, only to expect everything to go smoothly and balk at any club who asks for a couple million more, or run away when another club starts bidding also. Come on.

That said, prove me wrong. That also being said, if we sign racist bitey cunt I will honest to god boycott this football team. For his racism and biting, certainly- but I just do not see the point, whatsoever, in doubling, or potentially trebling your highest transfer record for a racist bitey cunt who is banned for 6 matches. It must be Gazadis’ idea of a joke- or testing the water with Arse fans as to whether they prefer class or ridiculous transfer fees for racist bitey cunts. Your call.

I almost thumbed up your comment, untill I read this part about boycotting Arsenal. Damn, I would support this club even with Tevez or Terry… Well, maybe I would need some very strong pills, but still.

We all would in think and thin..but this isn’t a situation forced upon Arsenal. They are bidding for a racist which means they are supporting a racist and eventually so are we?
Where are the morals in that?

Plus if we had to do that (win at any cost), why did we go down the self – sufficient way of funding our buys and stadium. Why couldn’t we just get our sugar daddy’s to bankroll £500 million to buy best players on planet?

We can brand Arsenal a model club for many to aspire to and then buy a proven racist player. It just doesn’t work.

We are desperate for strikers but not that desperate. I would much rather Wenger get Benteke, a young up and coming player than Suarez.

What’s the point of supporting if you have to take pills to do it. I don’t love this club because of silverware or similar shit, I suppport Arsenal cause of their values, traditions, history, etc.
But most of the fans are fickle as usual. 8-9 trophyless years, so rather take some fuckin racist gobshite than wait. Because most people want everthing immediately. 10-15 years is fuck all in history of clubs.

But Suarez didn’t, did he? Unlike normal people like you and m.., er, unlike normal people like you, Suarez can’t control himself. He gets over-excited and does stupid things that get him banned. He always says he is sorry afterwards, oh, no let me rephrase that, he never accepts responsibility for anything he does wrong, except for that one dive (and look where that got him. he won’t do that again. The admission thing, I mean)

Thats not entirely true, B. In my other life, I am a coach for kids, and what goes on on the Prem pitch reappears almost immediately on the under 9s etc all over the country. Diving, exaggerating etc etc are now commonplace. Unbelieveably.

“Moral exemplars”? Maybe not. But the eyes of every kid in the country is on the likes of Suarez and Rooney.

u guys dont know the best thing about suarez. when that ghana dudes penalty didnt go in. almost made me weep in franctic joy. i hate ghana and i love arsenal and suarez even if he doesnt come to arsenal.

suarez is the verve and we at arsenal will be unlucky to miss out on him after all wev’ve been through from cunt like nasri, rvp and cesc(yes… him too)

Yes, that’s right, because I’m frustrated by the extremes of moral indignation on this site and elsewhere, I must be a moral relativist…

What pseudo-logical drivel you spout, Pooner.

Presumably because you “won’t consider cheering” for people who cheat, you never cheered for Henry, Pires, Eduardo, Cazorla or any number of Arsenal players who have cheated over the years? I wonder how you manage to support Arsenal despite its shady beginnings, and now part-owned by a billionaire whose wealth was accumulated in the most dubious and exploitative ways?

I’d love to know how your manage to “separate” your high-minded indignation form the club you seem to support?

@Fedorovich: and I bet you’re uneducated and unable to grasp the significance of the exchange above. Pooner included “cheating” in his list ALONG with “racism” as reasons he wouldn’t cheer a player. If anything, it’s him that equates the two, as he sits way up high on his horse.

To the extent that you can believe any media reports, it’s worth noting that according to The Times, Real Madrid has abruptly jacked up Higuain’s asking price by €15 million. I can well understand why any club, having chased a player, would be put off when a seller plays that kind of game.

1) Agents
2) Players
3) Selling Club (unless the player is entering the last year of his contract, or the guy has Barcelona DNA)
4) Buying Club with Unlimited Funds
5) Buying Club with Reasonable Funds
6) Buying Club with Poor Funds
7) Borrowing Club

Guess what? We are a buying club with reasonable funds. We get what the others above us allow us to have, when they allow us to have it.

Paulinho has been over-rated in my opinion. He’s 24 and so far all he’s done is spend a few seasons in Poland, Serie B, and Brazil. By 24 we usually expect a player to be a regular in one of the top European leagues.

The list goes on, and every one of them would improve our team and has been touted at some point this window for one team or another

No as to their availability we will never know.. but I’m not buying this crap about no players to buy this window.. sounds like there setting us up for another fall

That said, there is no source in this article to say who is quoting Wenger as saying this.. (I may have missed it so please correct me at your leisure).. so It could be another Media story to sell papers at the expense of Arsenal fans…

does anyone miss the olden days of transfer markets… where Arsenal fans looked on enviously at the Transfer Market like the grounded child looking out the window at his friends playing in the snow – as opposed to being the butt of every media and agents motives.

Higuain – obviously we have been trying but not happening for some reason, either he doesnt really want to come or we are playing chicken with madrid over the price, might still happen
Felaini – maybe he doesnt want to join us, maybe it will happen
Cavani – signed for crazy money somewhere else, didnt go to man city or chelsea either, never an option
Jokovitic – who knows what happened there, maybe he wasnt interested in us or us in him
Fabregas – not leaving barca
Thiago – went somewhere else, obviously
Negredo – is he that good?
Bender – bid rejected, maybe we could up it, maybe we will, maybe he just isnt for sale this year
Isco – wanted to go to madrid, never an option

its easy just to list names and say we should sign them, but there are lots of other teams fighting for the big names too

Good. Now pick one who wants to come to us more than he wants to go to Barcelona/Real Madrid/PSG/Monaco.

What are the odds that the players you listed, and their selling clubs, are holding fire in case the big boys come knocking?

I would. I’m so good a player I could be in any of those teams. I’ll go to Arsenal only if I haven’t had a better offer before the end of the window. Arsenal can wait. Everyone can wait. I’m in no hurry to get caught in a big deal if I can get a massive one instead.

It’s not his job to suggest names. He’s not paid £7.5m every season to make Arsenal a competitive football club, that’s Arsene Wenger’s job. If he can’t do it he should fuck off and make way for someone that will.

I think Benteke could be a fantastic signing….22, already excellent but clearly has potential to improve and vitally has expressed an interest in coming to Arsenal. Given the valuations thrown around on guys like Torres, Rooney, etc, would something like 25m really be so horrible for a player with that much potential?

Of those 3 strikers only Higuain is palatable, as i mentioned previously Benteke is like suarez a cunt to his club to get his way. Fellaini will do but id take bender. there are a few other decent option for us in striker, maybe not brilliant options but let me take a swing at pointing out some who will add some quality and depth, lets see, Huntellaar (accepted he is getting on a bit) Guiseppi rossi (i know my spelling is awful) Doumbia (maybe, i havent seen much of him) fernando llorente will give us essentially a like for like for giroud which while not ideal will certainly reduce the amount of changes in playing style the team will need to practice, i wouldnt be too dissapointed if we have a closer look at remy to be honest, i confess i didnt see too much of him, can any1 give an indication of his stats? there is even a possibility of paying back UTD for rvp and making a good offer for Hernandez they have 4 strikers to rotate all wanting game time? i smell discontent there. my midfield options to follow

As mentioned, fellaini, Lars bender Sven bender Gusatvo Gary Medal Marchisio from everton leverkusen dortmond bayen sevila and juventus respectively, all offer some solid defensive cover and in the case of the benders some solid if not spectacular passing, and Marchisio offers some fairly decent shooting, Fellaini offeres sheer size.

In C.B tbh im not convinced we need some1, this preaseason suggests Miquel is ready to be 4th choice( lets be honest how often will we need him, and he still has next gen to gain experience in) further more Sagna seems very attractive option there, possibly sign micah richards as again offeres C.B R.B option.

GK options are extend Fabianski if he will accept fighting for a spot, cesar, Adler are the main competing with Wojcech options, to replace him as first choice is a little premature, but Steve Mandanda should be good enough. all other positions are in no need of any signings for the first 11 in current formation

Then we should get Giroud and Yaya to feign a tropical illness so they can’t play for 5 months so Wenger can spend. But in a seriousness though, it seems to me that Wenger only spends when things are dire, like his spending spree after the 8-2 game, when Gibbs got injured and Santos was our left he got Monreal, or a couple of seasons ago when we were in trouble of missing 4th so he signed Arshavin.
Stuff has to be bad before he even thinks about opening his wallet smh.

But I remember Gazidis clearly being outspoken about now being able to pay those wages rooney and the likes are on. not that I want him but I expected the manager and the Chief executive to be on the same page.

Please wait til the season starts. If he hasn’t added by then than rant all you want. Right now he is playing poker and bluffing is how you win in poker. That said if he doesn’t buy I am in line with you complaining about his lack of balls.

Having the nuts is how you win at poker. Right now the nuts would be Fellaini and Higuain. Both available for comparatively reasonable price tags and wage demands. What about Bony and Wanyama, where are they playing now? Swansea and Soton!!! Could have had them both for 20 odd million. FFS Wenger! This is getting really really old.

It’s no longer top top quality now it’s just lack of choice. Here’s a choice, Gonzalo Higuain. I’d choose him. Bullshit and we swallow it season after season in the name of we must support the club. I do support the club. AW isn’t the club he is its manager.

but what does that mean?
we don’t have the problem of not being able to afford rooney’s wages (we have the money)?
or we don’t have the problem of having a top-earner at our club draining funds (we don’t have the money)?

but what does that mean?
we don’t have the problem of not being able to afford rooney’s wages (we have the money)?
or we don’t have the problem of having a top-earner at our club draining funds (we don’t have the money)?

They can’t pay the same wages, and let’s face it Napoli is a step down. Even if we haven’t won anything lately, you can’t get 88,000 Indonesians to go see Napoli play an exhibition match. Nor would any kid in Vietnam run after their bus for that long. And Benitez is there.

Funny thing though–if Napoli do sign him, he’ll be playing at the Emirates Cup for them in August. Man that would be one giant PR clusterfuck.

We are probably going to play hard ball for as long as we can. Chavs want to conclude their business with Rooney, Shiteh have signed Negredo, Monaco have Falcao, PSG have Cavan, Atletico have Villa, Lewandowski will be joining Bayern.

That leaves a limited number of top, top quality strikers – Hulk, Suarez, Rooney, Higuain at the top top end. P. Cisse, Jovetic, Benteke, Torres, Llorente are a level down, but could all do a job.

If we don’t come across as desperate, then we could possibly negate the effect of announcing exactly how big our war-chest is. There are probably agents out there bashing their calculators, working out their share of our hard saved cash.

Arteta is a seasoned professional and if it were a case of competition with Fellaini he would rise to it and give Fellaini a heck of a fight for the position.

Fellaini would be a great signing. He’d add some grit. Arteta already has grit. Two hard working defensive mids has to be better than one because it means we won’t be weakened significantly if one is injured for a little while.
Also, if I’m not mistaken, both are pretty flexible when it comes to the midfield positions so it would never simply be one OR the other.

A month to go, time in which new players should be brought into the squad to blend with the players already there, so we can hit the ground running, not wait till the last day to save a fuckin pound note, by which time we’ve already lost ground.

A month to go, and we’re not close to signing anyone? Really? What the fuck do we do as a club? Wait till the window opens then go – right, who might we thinking about buying then lads?

A month to go, and we look as fuckin inept, amateurish and as tight as arseholes as we’ve ever been.

Yes. Yes he is. Though 90% of the people who read these posts will no doubt disagree and give it a thumbs down. He’s a relic of a long gone era. Great manager in every respect other than the modern transfer market.

I’m not sure who I find more irritating, Wenger and his reworded nonsense or Ivan Gazidis arguably the worst CEO of any football club.

I don’t get it either, from evidence it’s quite possible we’re the most easily bullied club in Europe. Put a freaking deadline on these offers, force other teams to make decisions before deadline day, stop being corteous to people who are making you look like a dweeb.

Really, the amount of business we got done last transfer deadline day speaks to how gullible we are and unable to force other teams’ hands until there’s literally no time to stall anymore.

I wasn’t getting worried, until all these Higuain stories started coming up, especially Napoli wanting to buy him. But I really started worrying when I heard Benteke could go to Spurs. Really, Spurs are strengthening, and what are we doing? If Benteke does join them I think that could hurt us.

Of course I still want us to get Higuain, but if for whatever reason we can’t, I’d rather see us go for Benteke rather than Suarez or Rooney, even though Benteke brings his own transfer season drama.

That’s it. I have officially become concerned. I tell myself to stop looking at the transfer news first thing every morning, and throughout the day, but I can’t. Maybe I should go to Gooners Anonymous.

Come on guys, this in Wenger. The man who 2 weeks before we signed Santi said that he had never heard of the guy. The man who Fergie said could run a poker school in Govan. Arsene never ever lets the cat out of the bag, and rarely if ever tells the straight up truth to the press. So take this with a pinch of salt and hold off on the meltdown until September 1st.

He was also the guy who said that we were going to strengthen in the last January transfer window, and ended up – on the last day, in the last few minutes – with Nacho, a reasonable buy for sure, but one who was only necessitated by Gibbs’ injury.

Wenger talks the talk, but he can’t… oh fuck it, it’s far too late in the day for this 80s shit.

Uh… I did just say that Nacho was a good buy. You seem to like questioning everything everybody says on this blog without actually giving your own opinions. And I’d argue that a lot of fans have lost faith in Wenger now.

My point was that Wenger promised signings in January, but without Gibbs’ injury, we’d have had none. So why on earth should we believe him now?

Read on man, I’ve expressed many opinions in posts further down, you just haven’t got to them yet.

I agree with you, Nacho was a good buy and he did strengthen the team, but how can you be sure we wouldn’t have got somebody else if we didn’t have to fill that position? We may have been stuck with either / or.
Then again maybe there wasn’t anybody Wenger and his scouts recognised as being an improvement on what we had and available too. You could also be right, of course, but I personally find it very difficult to judge against Wenger with so little hard information.

The business of transfers is a morass of self-serving agents, mouthy brothers and fathers, close sources, idiotically late deadline dates, lying toerag twitter freaks, greedy clubs and crazy press rumours, and all skewed by the presence of a few unscrupulous mega-rich clubs. With a mess like that anybody’s hopes and plans can to go to pot.

I refuse to hate Wenger for saying he’ll try to find players to improve us but won’t buy just because people say he should spend his money. I feel sorry for him (any manager really, but not Harry) because the players have all the power in transfer negotiations and can fuck you over in a second if a better offer comes along. They all string you along for as long as they can just in case that offer comes along.

I would prefer Wenger not to say anything about his hopes for the transfer windows as it just upsets people if what he said and what they think he said don’t match. I’d also like Gazidis to keep the fact that we have more money a closely guarded secret, so that we don’t get crazy price hikes when we make an approach for anybody.

I think gazidis went on the tour because it’s a chance to hang with the lads and because there’s fuck all going on in the transfer window at the moment except for a few small fry being bought by small clubs, and a lot of bloody silly rumours. Nothing will happen of any significance in the next three weeks, not because Gazidis is having fun in Asia, but because no bloody footballers worth buying will want to commit themselves to any club too early.

I’m really only questioning two things though.

1) The vitriol and hatred being aimed at Wenger and Gazidis for their ‘perceived’ inaction or incompetence in transfer dealings, etc etc. It’s too soon to wish Wenger would die. In fact it’s never the right time to wish Wenger would die.

2) The idea that Suarez will be a man that “we” will “all” cheer when he starts scoring for Arsenal regardless of anything he may have done in the past. I will always argue with anybody that presumes to speak for ALL Arsenal fans when they are condoning racism, biting, etc. I will never condone such behaviour and I have little respect for anyone who is so rabid about their club that they would throw away any principles they might hold just because a man might score a few goals for their team. Anybody who suggests that I would behave like that is insulting me.

I hate the transfer windows. If we have to have them then I would have a ONE WEEK transfer window in the third week of July, and one during the first week of January. No exceptions. No players of any team allowed to make any remark that could possibly be construed as tapping up or encouragement to another player to join their team. All approaches for a player to be made in secret on the first two days of the transfer week. All deals to be done in the last five days. No information on offers made or received to be passed on to any 3rd Party. No agreed deal to be made public until after the deadline had passed. Hefty UEFA ranking point punishments for any infractions by any club listed in their ranking system. Agents fees to be paid out of the player’s wages. FFP to control spending on player wages. be good if half of it wasn’t illegal.

I know what you are saying, but we take longer than any club on earth to finish transfers, just look at Arshavin, took the whole month. I thought the Higuan deal was going to happen but we are running out of time now…

Hate to admit it but we were better in the market with david dien! If him being on board is best for club bring him back!

Saurez! I wont pay to watch him at our club! Next we will be signing john terry and joey barton!

Whats happening to the club i have loved and followed for past 35 years?

Buy higuain if its going to take another 5 mil do it! Cos 40mil for suarez insults us and the history of our club! Would legends like wrighty, paul davis, micheal thomas et all welcome him open armed after tirelessly campaigning with the kick it out campaign! Lets send a clear message abd say no suarez or rascism at our club!

Everyone keeps talking about Higuain but I’m personally not even sold on him especially given his price tag. Then again, if we have, what, 100 million+ to spend guilt free (according to AST), I don’t see why the management can’t make a big signing to placate the retarded hoardes if nothing else.

Rarely do I get angry at some of the muppets that write on this blog, as I normally believe everyone has a right to an opinion but mate you are talking total and utter fucking Bollox.

Do you include arteta in the retarded Hoards when he he said he was excited about the quality of signings that where being mentioned or maybe jack who said very similar things, or maybe the tens of thousands of ticket paying fans that where

Told by gazidis that our transfer business will be done early and that we are to expect big things, all this before the season tickets were up for renewal.
Or maybe the hoards you talk about are those that now feel angry that they are now being drip fed the usual excuses about why we may not be getting the players we where clearly led to believe would arrive all of which of course now comes to light after the season ticket renewal date has passed.
Retarded hoards ? Your talking shit pal.
Maybe you believe that this squad as it stands can compete for the title, I have a feeling come the start of the season you will be in a very small minority of fans that believe that.

Couldn’t agree with you more mate.
I nearly got out of bed last night to reply to that retarded hoards line, but would’ve got an earful from the Mrs (Will you get off that bloody Arseblog at this time of night etc).
This isn’t about the fans, retarded or otherwise. We pays our money and takes our choice. As you say, the players know this team needs strengthening and are urging the club to do it for a good reason – they want to be successful.
The days of players leaving us and disappearing up their own arseholes are long gone – they leave and they win stuff, which is what players want to do.
So with all the changes elsewhere and all our new found dough, we’ve had a golden opportunity for the first time in years to improve things to our benefit, to really get back competing properly.
And for whatever reason, that chance is slipping through our fingers and it’s not good enough.
So if you’re Kos and you stick in another great year and finish 4th, and Bayern or Barca come knocking next summer, what would you do? Or you’re Jack?
This is the most important summer I can remember for years, that will have a material affect on not just next season but probably the next 5-10 years. And we appear unable to capitalise as we should and need to.

Let me tell you, Arsenal is not a charity, the club is providing a playing service for your entertainment. I’ll be the first to celebrate if we land a big player but I’m not the sort of cunt who goes off on the board when we make a cheap signing either (which I’m guessing both of you would do).

If you’re not happy with the service, fuck off. It’s that simple. If SKY TV is providing you crap channels do you riot? No. You just walk away and leave SKY.

The board can bullshit as much as they want, it’s not illegal. If you choose to believe what they say after so many years, that’s your choice but if you honestly are unhappy and want to make a change, walk away, vote with your feet until something changes.

Honestly, people like you come accross (to me) as the type who whinge about their shit dead-end job but don’t put any effort into trying to get a better one.

You made a valid point about the summer being difficult, and wrapped it in an insult aimed like a scattergun. Not the cleverest post I’ve seen on the subject.

The problem is that we have been told that we have a bit more money this year, and that we will get to work early on making deals. The problem is that reality has popped up it’s ugly head and bitten us on the arse. We are well known to the footballing fraternity to have more money this year, but the top players also know that it will not buy 3 or more players of their calibre (remember, the players we fans ae hoping we will sign all think they are good enough for ANY team in the world). Truly top quality players because they all cost 40+ million each, and such players expect huge paypackets. We can’t afford that. They know it because they know how much of our 100 million they personally will use up themselves.

Who wants to be the first massive signing we make when they know that the sort of money we will have to pay for them will mean we can’t get in two more players of their level?

Heck, everybody knows we aren’t in the group stages of the Champions League yet, and why should they sign for us now and take a chance of ending up in the Thursday League?

We are a huge gamble for any truly top class player, so the reality is that no matter how hopeful and upbeat Gazidis and Co were before the summer we are not really any better off than we were last summer in terms of pulling power. I bet Gazidis said we will “try” to get our business done early. I am sure he didn’t guarantee anything.

This is not Arsenal’s fault. Higuain may have made eyes at us, but you can bet that he is waiting for the best possible offer he can get, and that will need to be at a club that can guarantee him CL AND a huge chance to win some silverware.

No matter what we may wish, Higuain sees us as a step into the unknown, and that isn’t what he would prefer to do this summer. Him and a dozen other top, top, top, top players.

Arsenal fans at the moment are like the kid who heard dad got a payrise and has promised to buy him something nice. He thinks it will be that 15-speed racing bike he always wanted. Well, guess what? It will be a packet of peanuts and a bottle of pop. That isn’t really daddy’s fault, but he should have said “just a little present” so that the crazy kid didn’t get carried away.

In a world where Man United can’t buy the top players in Europe why on earth would Arsenal be able to do it? Don’t be the spoilt kid. Be sensible and hope the peanuts are salted.

I think most people would settle for 3 or 4 very decent players for the money we are supposed to have. Big names are great but even they don’t always work out. But if we end not buying At all then sorry the board and arsene will deserve all the abuse that will no doubt come their way this season.
We need strength in depth and because we cannot afford the top notch players of this world is no excuse for not getting any players at all.
It was arsene and gazidis who have said we can compete with the top clubs in the world you can hen hardly blame the fans when they get upset when yet again the clubs promises seem to be turning to fuck all.

He did say in 2 or 3 years, though. We aren’t there yet, regardless of how we might wish we were. We are not amongst the very elite teams (the mega-rich, or the ones with a pile of European Championships – and recent ones at that) so we do not get first dibs on the elite players. Primarily this is because the elite players want to play for the recognised elite clubs.

We can’t offer unlimited wages so we have to accept that we only a chance of top players after the elite teams have done their business. We get what we can at the end of the window because the players who think they should be considered elite won’t commit to anybody until they absolutely have to, just in case a better offer comes along.

Lack of choice? Too fucking picky more like! No wonder no one is chomping at the bit to come to Arsenal. We could have easily had Cesar, Fellaini, Suarez (with teeth removed), Higuain, Fabregas etc if only we looked like a club worth coming to. Lack of ambition + lack of management = lack of choice.

Arsene signing a new deal is like signing a new player
Getting rid of the deadwood is like signing a new player
Diaby returning from injury for 3 weeks before getting injured again is like signing a new player
I look forward to the day that we have exactly 11 players in the squad – that’s so cost effective its almost erotic from an accountants point of view

Why not then do your business as early as possible when its already been said you have the cash. Yet we’ve allowed this to drag on for so long that its gotten more complex than it should be. Even our main competitors(Juventus) dropped and we still couldn’t land. Now we’ve got Napoli with much more money than we do.
Dear mates all we can do is pray Higuain actually does fancy arsenal cause Wenger and co. have made a pig’s ear of this whole transfer window. This is Incompetence at its highest level. Sad.

The players have to want to come to us,
AND
they have to not be worried that anything better will turn up after they commit to us.

So they hold off and wait to see what else turns up.

This is how the transfer window works unless you are one of the ten or twelve super rich clubs in the world.

Please not that if you have all between you picked maybe 24 top players we should target, please be aware that that is only TWO players for each mega-team.

No truly top class player will come to us until we have already signed two truly top class players and can guarantee success. That is reality if you aren’t PSG. If nobody had noticed that is also reality for Manchester City.

Because we are “only” Arsenal we cannot get the truly top players before the last day of the window because they believe they belong at the mega-rich clubs and won’t look lower until they have no other choice (just like Bendtner, the egomaniacal twat)

I am tired of being the butt of my friends jokes when it comes to us spending some money. Why is it that all the other top clubs in the premiership dont have a problem signing players but for us its somehow different? I hate to say it but its time for a new leadership group that understands running a club includes performance on the pitch. 4th is not a trophy, its three spots behind where we want to be. For the last couple years I have been fleeced on prices with the promise we will soon spend. SO BUY SOME PLAYERS ALREADY. IF WENGER WONT DO IT GET SOMEONE WHO WILL. Wenger is not ARSENAL, he is the manager of Arsenal and he needs to do his job. Its time to stop blurring that line.
-so frustrated.

List those top quality players that the other teams have signed. Make sure you mention how much they cost, what team they went to, and why they chose to go where they did. If you can’t do that then I would suggest you wouldn’t be very good at buying top quality players for Arsenal.

Buying a top quality player does not consist of:

1) Pick a name
2) He’s ours

Not unless you are playing some wanky football sim where the other teams don’t try to get in first ahead of your bid.

If this plays out as it usually does: no major signings, last minute bargain buys, untested 18 year old players, you know the rest – I just cant see how supporters can continue to remain dedicated to this club, this manager, this chairman, this owner and directors. It is a 7 year continuous slap in the face to your fans. What the club does not report is the major downturn in season ticket sales which is significant.

I love this club with all my heart but they (Wenger, Gazidis, etc) keep breaking it by there false promises and then the retreat from that which we are beginning to see now.

Wenger is allowing his personal perspective influence his action( as an economist, he think twice before spending) which is what is keeping Arsenal where we are today. Every window market, he make mistake of eithe buyin under age player or prayer dt form is droping. Bring in flesh prayer and uplift the team spirit, we need a cup this season or you quit Arsenal

I’ve sussed it. All is clear now. We are no longer a top club we are part of the second tier. We qualify for the CL every season and what do we do when we get there? Wenger has qualified 16 consecutive seasons and in that time Manure, Liverpool, Chelsea have all won it but what do we do we celebrate qualification. The greatest trick AW pulled was convincing us 4th place is like a trophy

United won it when they were financial powerhouses, and they were fucking lucky at that.

Liverpool won it because they believed they could do it, and they were fucking lucky.

Chelsea won it because they had a team bought with free money, and they were fucking lucky.

Arsenal were ten minutes from winning it against Barcelona, but we lost because we were fucking unlucky.

Were you not around when we were runners up?

If you can’t include the little positive things that have happened when you write you condemnations of Wenger then your opinions are clearly biased by hate and small mindedness and hence are not worth taking seriously.

Are you one of those people that complained to the developers of God Of War when they gave four multi-player maps and new game play mode as free DLC to everybody that plays the game? The general response was “What use is four fucking maps you bastards. You should have given us more achievements you cunts. Fuck off and die”.

That is exactly what we are seeing from an increasing horde of Arsenal fans. You make me tired.

You are right about one thing, though I think you were trying to take the piss. We ARE second tier. We cannot compete with the dozen or so mega clubs that have unlimited finance. Even the teams who became massive through good business and a slice of luck before the rise of Chelsea, such as Man United, are starting to fall away. Bayern Munich seem to be bucking the trend but I doubt they can continue to splurge indefinitely. They will fade soon.

We have hung on to the tails of the mega rich clubs for six years, and have done it better than any other club except United. That is exceptional considering our financial limitations. Now we are coming out of those slowly (we will need 2 or 3 more years to recover properly) but Man United are the prime example of what we can achieve against the mega-rich and as you may have noticed, even they are struggling to stay at the top.

Stop fucking complaining about our club without looking at the whole picture.

“The competition in Europe is very hard at the moment. There’s a lot of money and not many players.”

Rooney- Angry and Frustrated
Suarez- Raring to bite himself out of the Mugmashers
Benteke- Handing in transfer request
Higuain- Wanting out
Bendtner- Never playing for his club(that pays his salary) again
Lewandoski- 1 year left, NOT signing new contract

Lack of options?! What nonsense. Money negates a lack of options, money we’ve been told by the men in charge we have in plentiful supply. I HOPE this is just Wenger’s poker face.. I’m reserving judgement and trying not to panic (until the last minute of the window if needs be), but if it slams shut without us doing any significant business, I’m done keeping the faith and making excuses for this club. IMPROVE OUR SQUAD!

I bet fucking Swansea will manage to find a player or two before coming to tonk us at our own place for second season in a row. They won’t spend big money either.
It is same old with Wenger unbelievable he has probably already signed new contract.
Lets face it, even with signings, Wenger couldn’t coach his way to a trophy if his lifee depended on it.
Chelsea are the ones who will take up the mantle. He knows it. Never ever beat Mourinho

In general, I am a strong supporter of Arsene and the way he has conducted himself in transfer dealings.

The problem is that the football market is unlike any other business market – it is topsy-turvy, wildly inconsistent, and not necessarily indicative of true value. Arsene is just not going to spend over market value for talent – in any other business market, this would be entirely logical, however within the realms of football, unfortunately sometimes you need to go beyond the reaches of ‘true value’ to get things done. Take Cavani for instance – is he ‘worth’ two and a half Higuain’s before wages, is he worth eight or nine David Villa’s? Of course not, but at the same time, he is a top end player who is going to (most likely) provide top end results. He is an elite player in his prime and regardless of the risk of buying big, for a team targeting the elite, only an elite calibre player is acceptable.

I’m not saying we should be buying Cavani – just pointing out that actual football value and true market value are not consistent with each other. In all reality, and judging by the situation we are currently in, in order to get players of the quality we want, we will have to spend over and above what true value might suggest. The consequence of not doing this is finding ourselves in the situation we have been in for the last couple of years – not having an abundance of world class talent, and left largely to rely on younger players who, though they have the potential, are not yet the finished product. We also have to contend with the fact that we risk alienating the current crop if we aren’t apply to support them with the best available talent (see the last 3 off-seasons).

I am a supporter of Wenger, for the most part. I respect the way he conducts his business, but I can only be confused when he says something about there not being many players. Cavani, Falcao, Lewandowski, Rooney, Negredo, Villa, Benteke, Aubameyang, Higuain, Ibrahimovic, Soldado, Remy, Cisse, Gomez, Ba: now some of these players are not quite up to our desired level, some are unaffordable or not worth what their current employers are demanding, but this is an off-the-top-of-my-head list of just the strikers who have been either linked with a move away, or have already moved. There are many others too, and surely it can’t be too hard for us to locate players good enough to go after. For instance, why exactly were we not in for Mario Gomez???

And one last point – why do we seem to always be stuck in the middle of a transfer window saying we are not really close? Shouldn’t all the prep work we are seemingly undertaking now be done through out the season, having us fully prepared for July 1? I am sure a lot goes on behind the scenes, but it does seem like we kind of leave a lot of it until the holidays are over.

Some people are really keen for us to get Benteke, others hate the idea of getting him. if we do get him it may well be in the last week of the window, but I don’t think that would necessarily indicate that it was a “last minute” thing. If he joins us it will surely divide opinion.

I just hope that if he comes then he will decide that this is the best place for him and not pull any shit like he’s been doing with his current club. Not likely though. Hopefully he’ll give us a couple of 30 goal seasons before getting itchy feet. By then we could be challenging and he might even decide to stay.

Don’t be surprised Wenger doesn’t get anyone at the rate he is moving. He will say his players have scored 14 goals and the defence has conceded only one. But the opposition has been 3rd rate.
Then as usual the gunners will challenge for the epl only to stumble in Feb .
If this is the case,Arsenal will be better of getting someone else. There are capable guys waiting for Arsenal to call them and the salary will be half or a third of what the fm is getting.

I blame the board for making him too comfortable, quick to jump into contract extension before he actually comes good on strenghthening. his employers have made it too easy for him to fuck us around imo.

I think you may be too close to the woods to see the trees here being a fan and all. Outsiders don’t see Wenger the way any of us do (loathe him or love him, it’s an Arsenal thing).

The way I see it, if we are to benefit from being the only club at the top that has stable management then we need prospective players to see that that won’t change in 12 months time. Wenger is a good draw card (for young players at least) and we don’t want to send messages saying he might be gone a year from now. Ruthless teams use every edge they can get, and even if you don’t like him he is an edge for us at the moment. He gives us the stability the others lack and so signing an extension, or saying he will, is going to help us to keep that edge in the eyes of the football world. It’s a sensible move to come out with this news now.

Respectfully-what a load of garbage. Wenger is paid to win championships with Arsenal. Anything else is not a success. Yes we have stability that the other clubs dont have this season-but that onyl matters if we were winning. They are probably thinking-“dont worry about them their not changing anything we know what they bring to the table”. I have read all your posts and you are clearly a very pro-Wenger guy-and that is fair enough-but dismissing other peoples opinion out of emotion opposed to objectivity is madness. If you look at it objectivey he hasnt accomplished anything in a long time. It is not unreasonable to question why he should get another contract automatically? Thats how it should be. If my job didnt care about performance I would be pretty content too and not feel any urgency. In regards to sending messages-everyone knows the coach changes every year at Chelsea and the only people that think twice about going there are coaches. Like it or not its a result oriented business everywhere else, it should be for us too. What do I care we got more money from Puma if were not gonna use it to get better?

The most surprising thing about this window is that I’m surprised we haven’t signed anyone. I’m sure I promised myself last year that I would expect nothing from the outset this time around. He always gets me, cheeky Wenger.

If you want top top quality signings, then you can’t be looking for bargains. It might have worked with Santi Cazorla, but there isn’t a whole heap of teams with quality players and financial difficulties that malaga have.

We don’t know he’s looking for ‘bargains’ as such. The problem is that we aren’t the only ones who know there are some teams in trouble, and we surely aren’t the richest team to spot that.

We’ll no doubt get a boost to our chances of signing good players once we have got into the group stages of the Champions League. Finishing 4th may have got us a shot at it, but until we have won our knockout games we aren’t actually a Champions League team. Prospective players will have noted this.

In terms of improving the squad and signing new players 4th is not even close to 3rd place in the league. If only we hadn’t dropped some silly points. We only needed a couple more and we’d be a known quantity for next season rather than a punt for any of our target players.

Agreed Mick. Some may want Suarez or the granny shagger & fair enough. If I woke up tomorrow to the news we’d moved on Bendtner & Gerv & signed Gourcouff, Shaqiri, Cisse, Capoue or Luiz Gustavo, Williams or Papadopoulos, I’d be over the moon.

United are just trying to look important. Them bidding for Fabregas isn’t a nightmare. Him actually accepting and us not trying to gazump them would be a nightmare. perhaps this is Fergie using his new position to continue his mind games with Wenger. I can’t believe the red-nosed one isn’t still pulling the strings behind the scenes.

I’d like to think he is a man of his word and if it isn’t Barcelona then only Arsenal will do for him, and I’d also like to think that we would want him back if he actually felt he had to leave Barcelona.

And yes to whoever asked above… Getting players does not have to be about spending lots of money but proper scouting. And winning trophies, as Swansea proved last year can be done with a fraction of the wage bill arsenal had, just proper coaching motivation organization from a manager who knows how to win.
Bradford and Birmingham have fuck all money and knocked us out. Even if Wenger spends he will balls it up anyway.
We need way more than 1 striker to win the league. And more still to dream taking on bayern Barcelona Madrid United Dortmund etc while sustaining a challenge.

1st paragraph very good. 2nd paragraph not so good. 3rd paragraph very good.

75/100. Tick V.G. as my old teacher would say.

We need to take all of the competitions seriously, because even a League Cup is a trophy, and winning trophies makes winning more trophies easier. It’s not just a matter of pride even though pride in the club makes players try harder (I think), it’s about developing a winning mentality. We saw what that can do at the end of last season. Perhaps if we strengthen the team we will be able to start off the way we finished last season. Not losing anybody we don’t want to would be a good start, and getting in a couple of proven PL players would be an excellent help too, hopefully topped off with one or two skillful and deadly finishing marquee players.

I’d like to see us buy a striker who can work with Giroud rather than instead of Giroud, because I’m sure Giroud is going to get better if played regularly, and we want to strngthen, not just replace. Similarly we could be strengthened by getting Fellaini in, or somebody of a similar nature perhaps.

Does anybody know of a good solid goalkeeper who won’t go ballistic if not guaranteed as a starter, and who has a desire to become a goalkeeping coach? It’s hard to find good, experienced keepers who are happy to be second fiddle, but if we could sweeten the deal by offering a way into coaching we might be able to raise Chesney’s game from good to excellent without threatening his place too much and unsettling him. Just a thought.

This is why big clubs have a Director of Football. We only have Wenger and his out of date evaluation of the market. Times have moved on, top quality players don’t cost the same they did 12 years ago. Pay up or fall behind. If Wenger hasn’t identified targets by now then his time is seriously up and he should go.

Hes on about lack of choice lol f–k i wish he would be real open his eyes and look at the market there is world class players to buy.He really does treat us fans like wan—s and the club aswell there is billionaires at that club so he could buy anyone realistically they would stump up the money if needed or do they want us to win trophies but just to run us as a business.we are not going to get the players that has been mentioned so that all c–p,fed up reading same old sh1te on websites about who we are interested in etc etc etc it will never happen with him at the helm.

This will not be good if we do not get at least one big signing. Gunner fans will be hugely disappointed and players, alike will feel let down. My concern is that next year some of our heart and soul players will want the exit because another trophy-less year has gone by.

I’d be more worried about all of this if five or six players hadn’t already left the club. They’ll bring players in, just maybe not the ones you want. Let’s try to stay positive! Read the following as if Jane Fonda were shouting it out from an exercise video:

Vermaelen out for two months, Chuks and Bac playing CB in the preseason games, all that points to buying a defender! ManU will end up foisting Rooney on us to keep him away from Chelsea, or we get the biter, or Higuain. Two are assholes, but any of the three would make Arsenal a better team on the pitch! If Barca’s board does actually knife Cesc in the back and decide to sell him–and don’t put it past them!–we’ll get him thanks to the buy-back clause. No way Arsene will let him go the Mancs, they’re like father and son! Put it all together and that’s a team that will beat Chelsea home and away… four-fucking-nil! The title is ours.

One more to wind down: all things considered I think we’ll finish above ManU this year regardless of what happens with transfers. One month with Moyes and the wheels are already coming off.

Well I hope there is a buy-back clause for Fabregas. He has consistently said he’s happy at Barca, and they’ve hardly treated him like shit, so you’d have to think he really is happy there. Man United making an offer for him means diddly-squat as long as he tells them to fuck off because he’s not interested in moving, or moving to them if he did want to move. If he is still close to Wenger and really wanted to move then I would hope he would call Wenger and say “come and get me”, and I’d hope Wenger bloody well did.

My wife is already unhappy I am spending more time on here tonight than with her (It’s 4.25 a.m.). While I’d love to have a drink to cheer me up I don’t think I should be drunk when I finish here nd turn my attention to her.

‘There are sufficient funds available to the manager.’ – Edelman, September 2005.

‘…the effect means we can spend more on transfers over the next 15 years.’ – Edelman, May 2006.
‘If Arsene came to us and said he wanted to spend £40m on a player we could do that.’ – Edelman, Sept 2007.

‘We remain firmly committed to substantial investment in the playing squad.’ – Chairman Peter Hill-Wood, Sept 2008.
‘We’ve got a substantial amount of money to invest.’ – chief executive Ivan Gazidis, Sept 2009.
‘The club is secure – we have sufficient funds to invest.’ – Gazidis, May 2010.
‘In January and in the summer there will be significant funds available to bolster the team.’ – Gazidis, Sept 2011.
‘All the money we make is available to the manager.’ – Gazidis, May 2012.
‘It’s all about giving us the capability to go to the manager and say “here is the money for you to compete”.’ – Gazidis, June 2013.

Investing is about carefully spending your money in order to grow. It has always been the club’s preference to spend wisely. Trouble is some of the people we spent money on turned out to be cunts and weren’t good investments (Nasri, Adebayor, RVP, I’m looking at you). These weak players performed only enough to get noticed by the mega-rich teams (took RVP six years) and fucked off for the easy life (and easier won trophies plus big wages) at the first opportunity. These bastards held us back and then kicked us in the teeth. It happens when you’re not a filthy rich team sometimes.

The problem is that football is a business and you can’t let the opposition see weakness, so whether there is money there or not you have to say we have no restrictions on our spending. In practice though, you do have to spend carefully, and you can only spend each pound once.

Things “should” start to look up for us over the next couple of years, and we are a little better off now than we were before, but I don’t think we are there yet. What we really need is strength in depth so that we don’t have any “Oh fuck, not him. Now we’re in trouble” games this season. Benteke, Fellaini, Michu? Yes, I think we should pursue them all. Grab a marquee player if we can, but we actually have two in Cazorla and Podolski already. They could both improve this season, as could quite a few of our current players (Ramsey, Giroud, Jenkinson Gibbs, Wilshire, Ox, Walcott). But to make the improvement in our current crop of players work we need more depth. This is the year we should pick up as many proven PL players as we can so that we don’t go all bloody weak and floppy in Cup games or when one of our “key players” gets injured or banned for three games. Also, get in a decent sports psychologist to create a winning, never say die attitude. I still think we should have got Tim Cahill for a year or two. He would have made a great motivator for anybody who got complacent in the team.

I think we only need a good striker for this transfer window, i don’t know you guys, but i have a lot of faith in this particular group we have for the upcoming season :
-adaptation time is over for last year’s additions : we can expect big from poldi, HFB, Santi(PFA poty2014 ^^), automatism will now be found easier.
-players have made adjustment as a team in last 12 games, we are able to get points without conceding.
-except for GK and ST , every spot have strong competition for the starting position; Sagna-Jenks / BFG,Kos-motivated Verminator / kibbs-Nacho / Arteta is an unique profile but i think Ramsey can do it / Santi-wilshere-rosicky / walcott-ox-giroud-poldi.
-the team can share the goals, 4 players with more than ten goals (unique stat in EPL) , i know it’s blasphemy, but it kind of reminds me of pires-ljungberg-GOD-wiltord.
-alsmost every first team players are potentially internationals, but none of them are starters in their selections, they will have to work their arses to go to Brazil next year ( such a shame for the lego haired man )
-the youngsters can now express themselves in league cup without the arsha,chama,squill.
-THIS british core,(except from Theo and Ox, due to their playing position i think) they have the HEART, you can see their sense of responsability when they play, their sense of tracking back and sweating the shirt was a so good to watch.
-this year pre-season is good, no captain leaving this time, jokes appart. i know for some people, it doesn’t really mean anything, but last year pre-season games have been awful to watch: players far from knowing each other,no trust in each other, defensive mistakes all around, no discipline, everybody’s interview was full of the skunk departure. this year it’s different,you can feel the good atmosphere around the squad.
i feel optimistic this time that we can grap some silverware, if we can manage to have 2 players ( let’s say the first one is Giroud) with 40 goals in the league, we will be good.
IN ARSENAL I TRUST .

without signing 3 or 4 top quality experienced players we will be lucky to get a fourth place next year. with the length of the season and hopefully the large number of games to play I am afraid you are being naive. we basically have a weeker squad than last year and we just managed to scrape 4th and be under no illusions that was because spuds messed up and not because of our quality

Maybe i’m a bit naive, but can you elaborate what you mean by a weaker squad than last year ? then i do believe it was down to our quality that we have been able to get the 4th, we have been more consistent than spuds, take points when needed, table doesn’t lie. Do you think that those players have reach their ceilings? i think that they have room to improve as player and as squad, we have just seen glimpse of the impovement at the end of season ( we could have catch city if the league had 5 more games to play imho).
My point is that this year, we didn’t make a step backward by losing key players, like the last 2 years, no disruption in this year’s progress.

I agree with 1-1 at the Lane. Why are we weaker now than we were at the end of last season? We have that experience, we haven’t sold any key players, we have shifted or are trying to shift some of the deadwood and that can only improve morale. We have bought a young and exciting player, and we have a new hero in the Running Man – We should hire him to show our players that never giving up can bring you good results.

Right this second on TV Nasri is getting booked for being a cunt in a friendly game. I am so glad we got rid of that prick. We don’t have Nasri. That is another plus.

Yes, we can buy to improve, but why be so negative about the strongest team in the last 9 games of last year’s Premier League?

I honestly think that if the decision or capacity to sign Higuain was an easy one, it would have been made. Measuring your cost-benefit analysis, paying over £30m for Higuain may not be of equal value as £40m for Suarez who has consistent and in strict footballing terms an almost player of the season performance in the EPL behind Juan Mata, proven in the premier League and an arch for his international side. More important, he is versatile. Playing on the wings, up front or behind striker. You’re not going to get that versatility out of a 6’0 Higuain, who has played limited games for the Spanish outlet last season. People make it seem that Suarez is going to show up at training with a Hitler mustache foaming from the mouth like a rabid dog. So what he won’t be the next arsenal legend, can we not resell him in two years retaining some of the £40m we may pay in the end, how will our team look by then, how many of our youth and new signings will be proven deputies by then, how many more reyes’, adebayor’s, nasri’s and van persie’s has this team been destabilized by to not take the opportunity to have a really strong team sheet. The man is a professional footballer, he didn’t make his way this far by biting Centre backs but by playing good football, don’t ask for a top player on one end and turn around and say ‘no not that top player, the other one’

Yes, OK. You make some good points in favour of Suarez. If he comes he might prove quite useful.

If we did get him though I would still be morally outraged, saddened by our lowered standards, and absolutely incapable of actually cheering him or his goals. I would never grow to like him, respect him, or love him as an Arsenal legend, and anything he helped us win would always feel a little tainted to me

When we did sell him on it would be a great relief, but it would be something that would forever form a little shadow in the picture of Arsenal Football Club that I hold in my head.

That’s just me though, and I know there are a lot of Arsenal fans who would love to have such a hard working striker playing for us, even though I can’t get excited about the idea myself.

Ultimately it is the Club’s decision as to what the club do, and as a fan I have no say in that and would just have to learn to live with it, as I have lived with all the little dark things Arsenal have done in the past that weren’t spotlessly clean and beyond reproach.

Come on mate, don’t follow the mob, don’t you find that to be a bit too melodramatic? “Morally outraged”, did you reserve that level outrage for raised ticket prices by any chance? I’m sure I’ve just become convinced that I don’t want Suarez on the team just so I don’t have to listen to anymore hyperbole on the blogosphere.

I can’t imagine why anyone who has seen Higuain play, and Suarez play, would become disappointed on gaining the latter in place of the former…oooh yes, because you don’t want a “bitey racist”. Great analysis Arseblog, thanks for making it so clear. What is happening on this blog is that Suarez has been turned into a poster boy for racism (and cannibalism) and so it naturally follows that aquiring him then becomes equivalent to the resolve of accepting racism (and cannibalism). That’s not the strongest reasoning and I won’t support that view. If you want to stand against racism, get off your computer and go into your community.

Id take Suarez at 40m over Higuain at 26m +
I think he is proven quality in the prem. You can question his temprement but i dont buy all the devil incarnate stuff.
Think the racism thing was blown out of all proportion. He was stupid, perhaps naive but racist? Guilty of cultural difference that was blown up in our PC country. What he said wouldnt have even made the news in Spain & he was speaking in Spanish where translation/context can be questioned. Said to wind up an opponent perhaps, Also Evra is a loudmouth cock. What JT did was worse.

I think higuain may be like a more expensive eduardo. No great special attributes. Skill/Pace/Heading etc all pretty average, however a natural finisher but he may not quite hit the heights?

The fact that what Suarez said wouldnt make the headlines in Spain is setting a very very low bar. Both Spain and Italy (Italy more so) are still stuck in the dark ages in that respect, where king kong and monkey chants and throwing bananas is all hanky dory. How backwards. What is it the president of Inter said when welcoming back the player they just paid £30+ for again? Our little black boy? They think nothing of it.
And the joke is they are 3rd world by western european standards, their economies are in the toilet. Why do you think there are so many Italians in London? Italy is highly corrupt and has been run by a billionaire serial womanising borderline-paedo and they have (ex) glamour models for MPs.

I think that everybody is bluffing at the moment, i meen yes its frustrating we havent bought a big player just yet but i got a good feeling about this chelski or man utd hasnt brought any one either so i think in a couple of weeks alot has changed, but ey im not a mind reader or anything just optimistic

Sorry but he’s talking utter bollox. Other clubs have done and will do good business.
We just keep falling for the same lines year after fucking year from the parasites that are running our once great club.
Sorry arsene your time is up, just impossible to defend you Anymore.

I’m inclined to agree Volders. Hearing him rot out the same lines season after season is soul destroying. Fellaini is available for 25m, can anyone honestly say he wouldn’t improve the team? I’m tired of hearing supporters sound like accountants to justify Arsenes inactivity. They say if Higuain cost 30m that’s too much because Suarez is £40m. Players cost what someone needs to pay, not what Arsene thinks they are worth, we got 23m for Anelka 14 yrs ago, so we have to be prepared to a hefty wedge for a quality striker or you end up sprinkling money away on Bendtner, Park and Chamakh. For an economist Arsene isn’t very savvy.

Anyone who has an insight into how Pr works will agree. There are a few things happening that haven’t happened for a while.
1) the clubs public display of interest in a player. Top players at that.
2) the club players themselves coming out and saying how kicked they are about Arsenal’s ambitious plans.

Now imagine what happens when the club DOES not make a signing that will make the fans believe they are serious about competing in the Premiere League.
They can still come out and say… We genuinely tried… But they didn’t happen for one reason or another.
Wenger’s too much money not enough players rant is certainly pointing at that direction. In Giroud, Poldi, Walcott and Yaya Sonogo he has four strikers. Players with enough quality to keep us in the top four.
We can all see how Biteman is not the best of things for this club, how can Wenger then ignore it. Maybe his situation is fodder for excuses that will come our way later… ‘we had the resolve… We went up to 35… They didn’t want to sell.’
Wenger: Too much money, not enough players.
Wenger on Higuain: He wanted to leave, we wanted to buy. We agreed personal terms but Madrid didn’t want to sell. Too much money, not enough players.
Some journos have real sources when it comes to scoops. Others are fed by the club publicist… And of course others who try and make something of the press interactiOns. The bottom line is…
One month to go… We need a CB, Keeper, DM and a striker? Do we have those? No. What do we have? Sonogo!

I may be going insane, but here is my positive take on things.
Firstly, both the Higuain and Suarez stories have been (uncharacteristically for our club) very public. Second, if you ignore the white noise from the media, it’s probably worth giving a lot more credence to Higuain’s family members than anything the press or club officials talk about. Thirdly, nowadays Real Madrid are in a much more vulnerable position in the transfer market than they are used to being just a few short years ago.
The rise of Arab/Russian Rich Man’s Toy Clubs has had an impact on their transfer strategy – in years gone by it would have been no hassle to get an Ibrahimovic / Falcao / Cavani. Now not only can they be outbid when pursuing any target by say, a de facto Arab dictator who has a Manchester Toy, or a Russian oligarch mobster with a London Toy, but they also have to deal with the new PSG/Monaco competition, not to mention spillover effects (Napoli’s Cavani windfall).
So my overly-optimistic assessment is this : the Higuain deal is already done. There are downsides to not announcing it (bedding in with the squad / Asia tour / preventing widespread Arseblog reader depression) but RM need to get a replacement in before it’s announced. So I’d say we are pushing Liverpool on their behalf to get a price, and Real are using Higuain as a decoy to make Napoli etc think he is still a viable target so they don’t get gazumped on Suarez. I know Madrid are very cunty cunts but I see Arsenal as more willing to collude with them nowadays than with one of the Toy Clubs. And given Wenger’s oft-publicized research into a player’s background and character, I personally find it inconceivable that either Suarez or Rooney would ever be bought. They both say CUNT on the tin, and they do exactly what it says on the tin.
As for midfield, my insanely optimistic take is that even the slightest hint of Cesc leaving has caused Wenger to hit pause. Personally, I don’t buy it (the only mitigating factor being Guardiola leaving as that was one of the draws for Cesc going back). But given we possess the buyback clause (25m I think) it would throw a delightful spanner in the works. Higuain+Fellaini/Bender+CB+GK = OK, but add Cesc and a bit over budget.
Still leaves GK, which there is less competition for targets I guess (or if it’s Cesar he would be on a Santi/Nacho holiday after the Confederations anyway) and as for CB it may be he wants to have a look at Miquel on tour before deciding, but unless TV’s injury is really bad I only expected a Sanogo-level buy anyway.

I’ve always been very pro-Wenger and grateful for everything he’s done for the club but honestly, I’m starting to wonder if all the miserable sods haven’t got it right to a certain extent. Wenger sounds totally out of his depth and overwhelmed by the modern transfer market.

Actually he has said exactly the same for the last seven years. Sometimes he was telling fibs. He might be now. He’s probably good at poker. He’s bought some really good players during that time (and some who turned out not to be what it said on the tin). You might say Arshavin turned out shit, but he wasn’t when we got him. He also developed some very good players who are about to come good as a unit. There is cause to be pro-Wenger as we could have been doing a Liverpool by now if he hadn’t marshalled his funds the way he did and kept us competitive(ish).

At least he’s never lost to Amazulu. Not even in a friendly. There’s even an Arsenal fan at that game to laugh at City when it finishes. How good is that?

I’m Going to end the Suarez right now as its become really fucking boring. Here it is people….we’re Arsenal, we’re not going to sign Suarez, we’re not going to sign anyone. Save your thumbs down until the end of august please.

What we need is a truce. No moaning about Arsenal or Wenger til we see how the first two or three games go, and no pro-Wenger slogans to piss off the unconvinced either. I’ll start the truce by pissing off for the night and leaving you all in peace.

Arsenal keep pretending to be interested in top players by submitting unrealistic bids they know will be rebuffed. They seem totally inept in the transfer market unable to control business be it in or out.
3 PLAYERS of quality which WILL improve the squad, are on the market, should be within budget and will send a statement of intent as well as a morale booster to the current squad.

Ceaser Fellani and Higuhin.

I DARE WENGER to take up the challenge and stop talking shite like “We can afford Roony” because we all know that historically what you CAN do and what you ACTUALLY do are two different things.

So that’s it then: another summer of bullshit but no decent signings – and another season of fighting-for-fourth-place mediocrity to come. Can’t say I’m surprised.

This could only happen at Arsenal Football Club: at no other top European club would the supporters put up with this level of piss taking by its manager and owners. This is beyond a joke; I honestly felt like throwing up when I read Wenger’s comments today: we are being taken for a bunch of fucking idiots.

Here are some facts:

1. We were a very average side last season, which just about managed to scrape fourth place.

2. To challenge for the title we need to sign at least four top-quality players.

3. Having released or loaned out a number of players this summer our squad is much weaker than last season.

4. The club have a huge cash reserve of at least 120 million pounds, and an annual wage budget of about 150 million pounds.

So why the fuck have we not signed anybody?

The answer is now clearly evident:

Arsenal Football Club no longer exists. It is now a money-making concern which only exists in order to improve its share price by spending as little as possible while charging the maximum ticket prices. This is the only conclusion that I can now come to. It’s a policy which is of course fatally flawed: who the fuck wants to pay top dollar to watch an average side which never wins anything?

But why do we let them get away with it? Drives me insane waiting and listening to bullshit week in week out still no movement. Surely there has to be a point where we the paying public say no or at least say something

I agree, I havent been convnced by the owners like most, i have remained skeptical seeing is believing until we do sign players im not going to jump to conclusions for next season, if we dont sign anyone else we are going to finish 4th with no trophys so until the transfer window ends i wont make a judgement on our season

But seriously why havent we sign a goalkeeper like Júlio César and why havent we signed a striker. I mean why not sign Suarez? i dont buy into this rubbish with his attitude your telling me Rooney and Terry and Droga havent been problems on the pitch over the years?

Couldn’t agree more. None of us should be surprised when Wenger comes out and announces that he believes we already have ‘thee qualitee’ in the present squad and that although they ‘tried very hard’ there was no ‘super super qualitee’ players available. He and his puppet Boss need to quit this ridiculous mutual appreciation society side act they’re putting on and get on with some fuckin business. Double D wouldn’t have fucked around like this pair. I honestly believe neither of them have any idea.

same old same old wenger
we all know that you worked very very HARD to sign
SANTOS, CHAMAKH, GERVINHO, PARK, ARSH…..etc haha
Hop you not doing the same and fight to finish 4th Mr wanker,
Its bin 10yrs since we won the EPL Shame on you

what AW actually means is there is not much choice when it comes to me paying little money and getting great players. He has been so tight fisted for so long he doesn’t know how to spend money. so much for the bollocks we all got fed in May about having 70M plus to spend and how we were going to to get great signings over the summer, spoending spree blah blah blah…. It will be same old same old come a few days before the window closes a couple of cheap players no-one has heard of and a few on loan. Then will come the cock about the January window and we will all stand up and get really excited about cant wait for January only to find that is a good shafting as well. If they dont pull their fingers out we will be loosing more of our genuine starts come the end of next season

what AW actually means is there is not much choice when it comes to me paying little money and getting great players. He has been so tight fisted for so long he doesn’t know how to spend money. so much for the bollocks we all got fed in May about having 70M plus to spend and how we were going to to get great signings over the summer, spoending spree blah blah blah…. It will be same old same old come a few days before the window closes a couple of cheap players no-one has heard of and a few on loan. Then will come the cock about the January window and we will all stand up and get really excited about cant wait for January only to find that is a good shafting as well. If they dont pull their fingers out we will be loosing more of our genuine starts come the end of next season

release an idiotic statement in late May saying we have tons of money and can pay this much in transfer fee and that much in salary. get all the selling clubs to squeeze out more money from us. then try to negotiate and bring the price down like we’re poor. loose all the available players to other clubs. Falcao, Tevez, Cavani, Neymar, Villa, and now looks like Higuain and Jovetic also.

and you’re left with Rooney, Suarez, Benteke, Remy etc..

and we’re not close to signing anybody. because theres ‘not much choice’. smh. pathetic.

I actually agree with Wenger that there isn’t a great deal of choice available that we can realisticly attract. Other clubs still have the advantage over us, including Bayern Munich and Barcelona because they are the best teams in Europe, United because they are the biggest club in England, City, Chelsea, PSG and Monaco because they can pay stupid money and wages for players. Real Madrid because they are Real Madrid.

We are not even in the guaranteed to play Champions League football select. Napoli have one over us on this.

The years of mediocrity are now catching up with us and we are struggling to attract quality players even with our new found resources. All very ironic that at the time we have some cash to splash there is no one to splash it on.

I can’t see Suarez and Rooney as realistic targets and i can’t see either wanting to come to Arsenal. They would both be very risky signings.

The problem for Gazidis and Wenger is they have talked the talk about getting back into that elite group by improving the squad. If they can’t improve it with new additions of quality in every area of the pitch we’ll be 20 points of the top and out of all other competitions as per every other season.

They know the squad needs improving but they can’t do it, which means it won’t improve. Catch 22.

Pressure is building and the last thing we need is desperate signings to appease the fans. Hence Wengers latest words.

Just want the transfer window to close so that I can just look forward to seeing Arsenal play and stop looking for transfer news like a fucking idiot every morning even though I know nothing is going to happen

With the way you lads talk about the transfer market, you make it seem like it all makes easy sense. £37m for Fernandinho is it? How about £55m for Edison Cavani ? £250,000 a week to keep that orc Rooney fed? Neymar made his decision to join Barca way before any other club had the chance to make enquiries and he is now the highest paid player in the team. Thiago Alcantara had to pay €2m of his own money to meet Barcelona’s asking price and seal a move to Bayern. This transfer guff is not a simple, formal procedure and if Arsenal are having trouble aquiring players (the ones that sit well with you) it’s not because they’re complacent but because they are level headed enough not to pay through the nose for transfers.

Some people really need to do a little basic research before they list all their favourite FIFA players and ask that we sign them all. Half the name’s mentioned on here have already made a transfer this summer (Llorente, Isco etc.) If you can’t do that then it just adds another irrelevant comment to the page.

Come on Arsenal, make some quality signings with the money that is available. Man City who finished second last year have already spent £65mil on three players. This is the level Arsenal need to try and compete with if they are to keep parity.

I don’t think Arsenal Football Club should spend more than is available, but are repeating previous mistakes by procrastinating over transfer deals.

all l have to said is that l hate arsenal manager forever and his the cost all this and he keep promising and agree and disagree.you sale your best player 24m and he want to buy another best player 37m or 40m.hahahaha this man is a fool

Wenger thinks there are no right wingers out there better than Walcott, no forwards better than Giroud, no left wingers better than Podolski, no midfielders better than Ramsey or permanently crocked Diaby, no ball-winning DMs more effective than Arteta, no full backs better than Gibbs or Jenkinson, no centre backs better than Vermaelen or Koscielny and no goalkeepers better than Sczcesny.

This team can be improved in almost every single area, by hundreds of players from hundreds of clubs – yet Wenger bemoans lack of choice. The problem is not lack of choice, it’s the blind stupidity and lack of ambition of the individual making the choice.

I be honest, i was expecting this. Wenger is great coach but he can not do deals to save his life!
He has defiantly lost his edge in the transfer market and many years of bad signings have proved that.
So we go another year with more broken promises from the board and Wenger cant find a player to sign, lol out of the millions of professional ballers he can not find any? even the notion is ridiculous.
I highly doubt he will survive another season at Arsenal if he does not sign anyone then we dont make champs league.

This is where you are wrong. If it were up to the fans, and this was the strategy, it would be thank you, goodnight and close the door behind you Mr Wenger. But to the shareholders, Wenger is a licence to print money. So, get ready for years of no silverware because Mr 4th place is a trophy is going nowhere.

You have to feel for the players who have also been conned into thinking they are working for a club and coach with the mentality of a decade ago.

Van Persie, Nasri. Song, Clichey, Fab, Toure all knew they had to leave the club to realise their ambitions. Maybe fans will start directing the blame for them leaving in the right direction now.

Let’s be sensible, Wenger is not an idiot, he is a very intelligent man. He may involve himself far too deeply in the running of the club from top to bottom, instead of just managing the team. He should name the players he wants and that should be the limit of his involvement in the transfer, it should then be up to the appropriate person to conclude the deal but he can’t help fretting that Arsenal will pay over the odds.
Well someone should tell him that it’s not his fucking money, it won’t come out of his wages, we all know David Dein used to deal with transfers, and while he has burnt his bridges at the club by selling his soul (shares) to the fat Russian, you have to admit, when it came to signing players, he didn’t fuck about.
If Arsene is not prepared to spend big on world class players, he can still drastically improve the squad by bringing in good players, instead of buying one £45 million pound player, bring in three £15 million pound players, he has after all supposedly got the best scouting network in Europe.

Ha, how can you say he has the best scouting network in Europe when he keeps returning to France all the time and snapping up overpriced French duds? In my opinion, the scouting network is horribly stale. Personally I would cast doubt on Wenger’s intelligence. Being stubborn and refusing to listen or evolve, to the clear detriment of whatever you’re trying to achieve, denotes a complete lack of intelligence. The problem with fans is they look up to people like Wenger and make icons out of them, in reality they don’t realise that it’s quite possible to be successful AND stupid, ignorant, out of touch. But when the latter becomes predominant, it’s time to get rid, as Arsenal should have 5 years ago.

@Peach I don’t think he is stupid and ignorant, but I do think he is as stubborn as sin.
I don’t get it, I don’t get what Arsenal football club is about anymore, surely all players, coaches, managers etc go into football to win things, to be winners, it’s what drives the whole game forward, if Arsene is that bothered about finances he should be the clubs accountant. Of course if I wake up tomorrow and see we have signed Higuain I will take it all back, we’ve been patient for three or four years now, all the while knowing the squad needs serious investment, but fuck me it’s starting to wear thin!!

Arsene loves his lifestyle, and everything he does is geared towards maintaining that. His ideas are fixed, dulled by a stubborn resistance to change and old age. He’s reactive, not proactive. He only changes his mentality when his job – his lifestyle – is in danger. When the threat is removed, he carries on in his own little world. A great example is how he pretends he is “loyal” to Arsenal. The real reason is he knows that he has a job for life for as long as he delivers the absolute bare minimum. Other clubs would demand a lot more, and he knows he’s not capable of delivering more. He is safe at Arsenal, safe to fuck around with his stupid, ineffective ideals. He wants to retire at Arsenal and no doubt wants to bring success to the club, but he’s completely deluded if he thinks he can do it operating the way he does.

BTW, Higuain would not make any difference whatsoever. Arsenal need 4 or 5 players of his calibre to challenger for major trophies. To think that one man is enough is utterly ludicrous and an example of how clueless Arsenal fans have become. RVP scored 37 goals and Arsenal still came 4th, is Higuain going to match that? Of course not.

Stop talking Wenger about being able to afford players like Rooney and sign someone already!! Don’t think impressive wins against Asian teams are going to appease the fans into thinking the squad is not desperate for new signings, we need to be making a serious statement of intent by making major signings and showing the Man Cities of this world were ready to compete for the title, not 4th place!!!

Classic remarks from Wenger.
What happened to Jovetic? Or our Higuain ‘capture’. Nothing.
Personally I agree with Arseblog regarding Suarez. No doubt a quality player but to spend a heinous amount on a player with his track record is ridiculous.
What seemed relatively hopeful regarding transfers is descending into the usual.
Names thrown about but nothing.
Hopefully its all a delay due to the tour but I’m not expecting all to much any more.

At the rate Wenger is going ,don’t be surprised the gunners don’t buy anyone. Furthermore we have the ceo admitting the club had forgotten the bankdetails. This nothing but a charade to not enter the market the last five years.
Now we have reports of the young gunners performing exceptionally well. Playing 3rd rate teams and those in the epl are two different worlds. For starters,the thugs in the epl are preotected by the refs and FA. A robust tackle which can injure and put aplayer out of action for alengthy period,is deemed acceptable and within the physical limits of the game English game.
The young gunners may sparkle initially but could fade away making the challenge for the epl confined to another season.If Wenger cannot make the gunners aforce,he shd go and not waste another two to five years.By then the gunners will be amid table team struggling for cl soccer.